Electronics » NAVIGATOR 6 failed during ride

Sadly, we were out in the TX Hill Country in the middle of nowhere on narrow winding roads when it failed and were badly in need of finding the nearest gas station - my wife's Ducati Diavel ran out of gas while showing 1/3 of a tank! No cell coverage so the iPhones were no help. I set out northbound and found a station 12 miles away, filled my bike, bought a gas can, filled that, and returned to my wife/her bike. Turns out the fuel sender on the Ducati is a known problem...though, it wasn't to us until today! Most folks say don't bother buying a new $300 sensor because it will just fail again in a few months.

ANYWAY...the failure of the NAV6 was a major pain in the entire situation and I can't figure out what happened. It acts like it is totally discharged though it was mounted in the OEM BMW mount snd had been working fine until I shut off the engine when I pulled up to where my wife was stopped on the side of the road. TBH, I find the thing to be one of the worst nav units I have ever used as far as function/ease of use but that's a different issue. Anyone know of specific issues with them as far as reliability?

I've not had the Nav 6 fail during a ride but have had it fail to start when it was completely flat. My understanding was that it would be fine once I powered the bike on but on a couple of occasions I've had to wait until I'd ridden for a while before it would "wake up".

I think Juergen has hit the nail on the head. I have two batteries for my Nav 6. Both seem well past their best. A couple of days ago it took maybe 10 minutes for the unit to power up but it was reliable when it did.

On my 1250RS the unit is switched through the ignition. On my F800GT it is wired direct to the battery - which I prefer. So I can easily top up the battery by sticking it in the F800GT cradle for a few minutes.

Chris

Sounds like Ducati are now using the same fuel level sensors that BMW were using ten years ago. I had exactly the same problem running out of fuel on my 1200GS.
There have been some problems with the Nav-6 batteries although mines been fine so far. At least the battery is a replacable item.

Zitat von juergen im Beitrag #2

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I've not had the Nav 6 fail during a ride but have had it fail to start when it was completely flat. My understanding was that it would be fine once I powered the bike on but on a couple of occasions I've had to wait until I'd ridden for a while before it would "wake up".

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Sounds like a battery issue to me. I suppose it runs off the battery and not line power, so if the battery craps out, the unit fails. I’ve never had a GPS battery fail. Did you get it working again with a replacement battery?

Thanks re battery info but the Nav was plugged into the OEM BMW navigator mount the entire time so it seems to me that even if the battery is in very poor condition, the unit should operate normally while on the bike. I removed it from the mount and tried to turn it on but there was no response until I plugged it into a USB charger. After a minute or two it turned on "normally." This would indicate the batt was dead BUT, again, the unit was in the mount/operating normally for several hours on the bike. Maybe something failed in the connections between the mount/Nav unit during the ride. I'll check that out today...Anybody know which pins on the Mount provide the electrical power to the unit?

It operates OK when connected to the USB connector on the back of the NAV so it seems logical to me that the problem is in the connection between the mount and the Nav.

Haven't tried a replacement battery but seems like a good idea!!

I have had the issue a couple of times - once in Spain miles from anywhere - the way I got it going again was to completely remove the battery and then put it back in again and it came back to life - it was annoying at the time having to get the toolkit out for a very small Pozidrive driver to remove the battery

I can't find any info on replacing the batt in the owners manual - it says if I need a new battery to contact my BMW dealer! ;) I assume the battery is located under the plate with the two screws on the back of the unit. I also assume it is some weird battery as opposed to a couple of AAA's! :)

I remounted the unit a few minutes ago, turned on the ignition and (OF COURSE!) it powered on immediately and showed the battery to be charging. All perfectly normal. Go figure! :( Too bad I don't need the unit to tell me I'm at home. ;)

I have been considering putting a mount on the bike for my iPhone - I have one on my Kawasaki Z900RS Cafe (in England) and the iPhone works much better/easier for everything than the BMW Nav unit does. BUT, the Nav unit is a GPS unit and doesn't need a cell signal to operat. If you are in an area with no cell coverage - as we were yesterday - the phone can't help you. I haven't had "no cell coverage" occur in the UK but in the TX Hill country it's common - at least with T-Mobile.

Zitat von Grumpy Goat im Beitrag #10

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I suspect that the problem is at the connector pins between the cradle and the back of the Nav VI.

I have experienced problems when the connectors needed cleaning / protecting. When this happens I clean the pins and the “dot” contacts on the unit, and then lightly smear some dielectric grease on the dots. The problem goes away.

As for the battery, see this: https://youtu.be/iFJxsr_OCzc

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Zitat von MexicoMike im Beitrag #7

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Thanks re battery info but the Nav was plugged into the OEM BMW navigator mount the entire time so it seems to me that even if the battery is in very poor condition, the unit should operate normally while on the bike. I removed it from the mount and tried to turn it on but there was no response until I plugged it into a USB charger. After a minute or two it turned on "normally." This would indicate the batt was dead BUT, again, the unit was in the mount/operating normally for several hours on the bike. Maybe something failed in the connections between the mount/Nav unit during the ride. I'll check that out today...Anybody know which pins on the Mount provide the electrical power to the unit?

It operates OK when connected to the USB connector on the back of the NAV so it seems logical to me that the problem is in the connection between the mount and the Nav.

Haven't tried a replacement battery but seems like a good idea!!

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Zitat von Duckbubbles im Beitrag #11

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Had this kind of problem with my Nav V. De-mounting and re-mounting on the cradle seemed to clear it up.

Frank

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Zitat von MexicoMike im Beitrag #1

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I set out northbound and found a station 12 miles away,

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Zitat von MexicoMike im Beitrag #7

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Thanks re battery info but the Nav was plugged into the OEM BMW navigator mount the entire time so it seems to me that even if the battery is in very poor condition, the unit should operate normally while on the bike. I removed it from the mount and tried to turn it on but there was no response until I plugged it into a USB charger. After a minute or two it turned on "normally." This would indicate the batt was dead BUT, again, the unit was in the mount/operating normally for several hours on the bike. Maybe something failed in the connections between the mount/Nav unit during the ride.

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Zitat von MexicoMike im Beitrag #9

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I remounted the unit a few minutes ago, turned on the ignition and (OF COURSE!) it powered on immediately and showed the battery to be charging. All perfectly normal. Go figure! :( Too bad I don't need the unit to tell me I'm at home. ;)

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